No Such Thing As Job Security

Sep 14, 2012 1:27 pm ET

By Melissa Korn and Leslie Kwoh

What ever happened to the cushy career, the sure thing that awaited after years of toil in law school, medical school or even college?

Entering an established field like banking, medicine or law was once a guarantee of a sweet salary and job security – but such assurances are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The Journal reported late yesterday that Goldman Sachs, the go-to firm for aspiring Wall Street titans, is scrapping its traditional two-year contracts for most analysts hired straight from college. The changes will kick in with the class starting next summer.

Banking, once a competitive destination for fresh graduates, has grown less enticing as financial institutions have scaled back on bonuses and perks over the last few years. (Goldman analysts, for example, are generally paid $70,000 in their first year and $80,000 in the second, according to the Journal. But annual bonuses, previously the size of the full salary, generally, have shrunk.) As The New York Times pointed out in December, fewer graduates from Princeton, Harvard and Yale are heading into financial services after college.

The recent turmoil on Wall Street has also served to heighten stress levels, which can lead to burnout and health problems, as the Journal highlighted earlier this year…

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